


Dance With Destiny

by MadDogLucario96



Category: Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: F/M, Prom, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 21:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16416185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadDogLucario96/pseuds/MadDogLucario96
Summary: Prom night. The one night every teenager looks forward to. But this won't be a normal one. Will Tai finally find the courage to tell Sora how he feels about her or will crazy circumstances hinder that?





	1. Chapter 1

There comes a time in every young person’s life when they transition from a child to an adult. This would normally be signified by an eighteenth birthday or graduating high school in most parts of the world. In other instances, prom is the ultimate indicator of maturity. Having to step out of one’s own shell to ask a person of the opposite sex to go to a dance can be the most unnerving experience.

On this day at Tsukishima High School, students are buzzing with excitement as not only are finals and the end of the school year finally coming up, but for upperclassmen there is the anticipated excitement of the end of year dance; boys asking girls, girls waiting to be asked, and others trying to make the moment perfect before they finally ask.

For someone like Tai Tamiya, it is a recipe for trouble. While normally confident in himself and in everything he did, he was not immune to the troubles that all boys experience when trying to ask a girl to a dance. For one thing, the girl he wanted to ask was someone he couldn’t have been more nervous about asking.

That girl was the one and only Sora Takenouchi.

The two of them had been best friends since they were practically in diapers but ever since they became teenagers, maybe even before then, Tai could not deny the feelings he had for the auburn-haired beauty. They played soccer together when they were younger. They did almost everything together-name it and they had done it.

But some things are easier said than done.

* * *

 

Hard rock music blared through the entire locker room as the Tsukishima High soccer team changed out of their sweat-soaked practice jerseys and into their school uniforms for the upcoming day of school. Several members were still in the showers to clean off the sweat and grime of the early morning practice. Tai Kamiya was one of them.

As he scrubbed body wash on his body, he couldn’t help but overhear some of his teammates’ conversations. One in particular caught his ear.

 

“So Shiro asked Yumi to the dance yesterday.”

 

“No way! What did she say?”

 

“She said no.”

 

“Aw. Poor guy.”

 

Tai rolled his eyes at the conversation. He had more important things to worry about than who had failed at asking who to the dance so he kept out of it.

 

“Hey, Tai,” a voice came.

 

He spoke too soon. He turned to see his co-captain Takahiro showering next to him.

 

“What, Taka?” he asked.

 

“Have you asked someone to the dance yet?”

 

Tai shook his head. “No, not yet.”

 

“Not yet?” Takahiro chuckled in disbelief. “Dude, girls would be lining up for you to ask them. How come you haven’t yet?”

 

“I’m waiting for the right time to ask the person I want to,” he replied. Tai shut off the shower and walked out towards his locker to change into his school clothes.

 

“You’re planning to ask Sora, aren’t you?” Takahiro gave him a knowing look, a smirk on his face as well.

 

Tai’s face erupted into a blush, causing his friend’s smirk to grow even wider.

 

“W-What gave you that idea?” he stuttered.

 

Takahiro chuckled. “Dude, we’re not stupid. We know how you feel about her. Rumor has it though that Matt already asked her to the dance.”

 

Tai’s face fell. “He did?”

 

“Yeah, but lucky for you she supposedly said that she was waiting for you to ask her before making a decision.”

 

His whole mood brightened a bit after hearing that statement. If Sora hadn’t said yes to Matt right away, then he still had a chance after all.

 

“So you better get a move on and ask her before she decides to go with Matt.”

 

“Shut up!” Tai’s face had turned bright red by this point.

 

After fixing his tie, he walked out of the locker room to escape anyone else who would try to approach him about the subject. It was already hard enough getting a girl alone to ask her to the dance but with Sora it was even harder. She could be very unpredictable sometimes and that was what frustrated Tai the most about her.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he walked down the hallway towards his locker. He took it out before looking at who had messaged him. It was Izzy.

 

_‘I’m at your locker.’_

Tai quickly responded back.

 

_‘On my way. I’ll be there in a minute.’_

Continuing his pacing toward his locker, he took notice of all the conversation going on around him. Girls were gossiping about the latest invites and who they would be going with while the guys nervously looked at them, obviously afraid of asking one the big question. Tai would have thought it to be pathetic but he would be called a hypocrite because he didn’t have a date himself, at least not yet.

 

 _‘Why does this have to be so hard?’_ he thought to himself.

 

Finally his eyes rested on a locker with the Crest of Courage symbol on it and walked over to it. Izzy stood with his shoulder resting on the lockers next to it, looking at Tai expectantly.

 

“About time you got here,” Izzy smirked. “I was beginning to worry.”

 

“Today was a particularly hard session so I showered longer than normal,” Tai explained as he entered the combination on the lock before opening his locker and taking out his books for first period. “What do you need, Izzy? You sounded frantic yesterday when you asked me to meet you at my locker.”

 

Looking around nervously, the computer genius leaned in to whisper in Tai’s ear.

 

“Do you know if anyone’s asked Mimi to the dance yet?”

 

Tai snorted before laughing out loud. Izzy tried to hush him before anyone would notice but everyone around them was too caught up in their own things to care.

 

“That’s what you were so worried about?” Tai cackled. “Izzy, you make me laugh.”

 

“What’s so funny?” Izzy demanded, his face red from a combination of embarrassment and anger.

 

“Mimi has been waiting for you to ask her for weeks now,” the Digidestined leader explained, his laughter dying down. “Just get it over with. What are you afraid of? The worst she can do is say no.”

 

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” his friend retaliated.

 

“Then what is it?”

 

Izzy stood silently for several seconds. His face was even redder than it was before due to how embarrassing the reason was.

 

“I’m afraid she’s going to laugh at me,” he admitted.

 

Tai laughed once again. “Dude, she’s crazy about you. If she wasn’t she wouldn’t be waiting for you to ask her to the dance. Go for it, man.”

 

The warning bell then rang, signaling that it was time to get to class. Closing his locker, Tai and Izzy split off to go their separate ways.

* * *

 “And so the fall of Constantinople was caused by a multitude of factors. For starters, the Ottomans used gunpowder, which was revolutionary for the time period, to blow through the city’s walls, and their numbers were stronger compared to those of the Byzantines that they were able to conquer the city after a month-long siege.”

 

Tai tried to pay attention to the lecture at hand but his mind was all over the place at the moment. How was he going to ask Sora to the dance? What if the rumors weren’t true and she already said yes to Matt? Learning how the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople paled in comparison to this dilemma he faced.

 

In front of him, the girl of his thoughts was copying notes on the lecture, paying close attention to what their teacher was saying.

 

“Psst,” Tai whispered, tapping her on the shoulder. “Sora.”

 

“What?” she turned to whisper back, annoyed at having her concentration broken. “I’m trying to pay attention. You should do the same.”

 

She returned to copying down notes but Tai would not stop.

 

“I need to ask you something.”

 

Rolling her eyes and groaning in aggravation, she turned to glare at him. “What do you want?”

 

“Is there a problem, Miss Takenouchi?”

 

Sora’s face turned red in embarrassment as everyone around them snickered. She turned away from Tai to look at her teacher.

 

“No, sir,” she replied with sincere contrition. “Forgive me. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”

“I know you all find this boring but please do try and pay attention,” their teacher said to her before turning to Tai. “Which is what you should try to do every once in a while, Mr. Kamiya. Understand?”

 

Tai nodded in understanding. “Yes, sir,” he responded. “Sorry, sir.”

 

With that, the instructor returned to the lecture he was giving before the interruption. Sora buried her nose into her notebook even more feverishly and kept an iron concentration on the lecture at hand.

 

“Sora,” came Tai’s voice once again but she was ready for it.

 

“Sit boy,” she responded.

 

For reasons Tai couldn’t explain, he face-planted onto his desk.

 

Meiko watched from beside him with confusion in her bifocal eyes.

 

“What just happened?” she asked herself before turning back to the lecture at hand.

 

* * *

 

 Later that day, Tai and Sora were in study hall together trying to get some work done before the weekend. Tai had a soccer game the next day so he felt the need to get ahead on some of his homework.

 

At the moment he was reading an Inuyasha manga to try and relax his mind after getting his history essay finished. It was because of Kari that he got interested in the manga and eventually the show, which quickly became one of his favorites. The whole dynamic between Kagome and Inuyasha reminded him so much of Sora and himself.

 

 _‘Does Sora think I’m Inuyasha or something with those ‘sit’ commands?’_ he thought to himself as he looked at her across from him, nose buried in her books as she took notes on the next chapter.

 

_‘Do I have Beads of Subjugation on me? How does it keep working?’_

Looking up from the novel, he noticed Izzy walk in with a bright smile on his face. He waved to him before turning back to the book. Sora looked up from her notes to see who Tai was waving to before noticing Izzy as well, greeting him with a smile before turning back to the task.

 

“Why are you in such a jolly mood?” Tai whispered as Izzy sat down beside him.

 

“I asked Mimi to the dance and she said yes,” Izzy replied.

 

“I told you she would,” the Digidestined leader smirked. “You just gotta have confidence, Iz.”

 

Izzy snickered before opening his laptop and working on something there. Despite his confident words, Tai could not help but be jealous of his younger friend’s luck at getting a date.

 

 _‘At this rate, I’ll be the only one in my year without a date,’_ he moaned internally as he looked at the girl across from him. Immediately he felt his hands clench into fists and his mouth became dry as a desert. The fight or flight mentality surged through his system and he was leaning towards the side of running.

 

“Hey, Sora,” he said slowly, trying to figure out how he was going to ask her.

 

She looked up from her notebook. “Yes?” she responded, raising one eyebrow in curiosity as to what he had to say.

 

“You’re a girl, right?”

 

 _‘Idiot!’_ he cringed. _‘What kind of a question is that?’_

The look she gave him enforced that theme: it was one of confusion. It made her wonder exactly he was trying to go with this. Even Izzy couldn’t help but snort loudly before trying to get his laughter under control.

 

“Last time I checked,” her eyes reflected the awkwardness of the situation by darting side to side.

 

“And I’m a guy so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the dance with me,” he said. “Just ‘cause I heard that you weren’t going with anybody yet.”

 

Sweat started to dot his brow as he waited nervously for her response. He watched as she clicked her pen before putting it down beside her notebook. She then closed it before stuffing it into her bag and zipping it up. All of this waiting for her to respond was making him nearly have a heart attack.

 

A smile then made its way onto her face.

 

“I’d be happy to, Tai,” she replied. “Matt had asked me before but I was waiting to see what you were going to do before I decided anything. We’ll thin out the details soon.”

 

Sora got up from the table and walked towards the door.

 

“See you boys later,” she waved goodbye before walking out of the room.

 

Tai gave a deep sigh of relief and slumped back into his chair, so far that it caused the chair to tip over and hit his head on the floor. With a groan of pain, he tried to pick himself up. Izzy chuckled at his friend’s misfortune, which earned him a dirty look from the Digidestined leader.

 

Sora giggled to herself in the hallway, having seen the whole thing happen. She rolled her eyes in amusement before walking down the hall towards her locker.

 

_‘Tai Kamiya, you really are a piece of work.’_

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that he has asked Sora, what will Tai do next as he gets ready for possibly the biggest night of his life?

_‘Why do I have to wear this thing?’_

 

Tai felt weird putting on a full three-piece tuxedo for the dance. He thought he looked like a waiter at an upscale restaurant with the black pants, black dress shoes, white shirt and black waistcoat. To top it all off, he wore a black jacket and a black bowtie, which his father helped him tie. Formal attire just wasn’t his thing.

 

“This should be outlawed,” he groaned, as he looked himself in the bathroom mirror.

 

Thankfully he had managed to talk his mother out of getting him a haircut otherwise he would hardly recognize himself at that moment. When Mrs. Kamiya found out that he and Sora were going to the dance together, she went, as Tai put it, a little too far with the festivities. She booked them a reservation at one of the most upscale restaurants in the Odaiba district for dinner, complete with a limousine ride, and bought a fancy corsage for him to give to Sora. While her heart was certainly in the right place, Tai thought it to be a little too much just for a school dance.

 

Feeling a little paranoid about how he presented himself, he decided to brush his teeth before he got ready to get Sora so they could go to dinner. The plan was for him to pick her up at her apartment before getting in the limo to go to dinner and then straight to the school for the dance. He had it all memorized to a ‘t.’

 

A knock on the bathroom door brought him back to the realm of the living.

 

“Tai, can I come in really quick?” Kari asked from the other side.

 

“Yeah sure,” he responded, the toothbrush slurring his words slightly. “Come on in.”

 

With a creak, the door opened just slightly enough that Kari could come in. Looking in the mirror, Tai’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull when he saw what his sister was wearing; a navy and pink kimono with a leaf design in the fabric and a lilac sash tied around her waist.

 

Walking up to the mirror, Kari started putting on lip-gloss, fretting over every last feature of her face. Tai spit in the sink and rinsed his mouth out before rinsing the toothbrush.

 

“What are you all dressed up for?” he asked, still quite stunned at his sister’s attire.

 

“My school dance,” she replied. “Do I look alright? TK is supposed to pick me up soon.”

 

Tai smiled his famous smile. “You look beautiful, Kari,” he complimented. “You don’t need to worry about anything. TK’s jaw is gonna hit the floor once he sees you.”

 

“Thanks,” she giggled before getting a good look at him. “You look pretty spiffy yourself. Sora is going to be amazed when she sees you.”

 

“I hope so,” he sighed, running a comb through an out-of-place part of his wild hair.

 

In the corner of their eyes, they could see their mother standing at the open door, watching with misty eyes.

 

“My babies,” she sniffled. “Who said you could grow up so fast?”

 

Tai groaned. “Mom, don’t get mushy, please.”

 

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it,” she chuckled, moving into the bathroom to wrap the two of them in a hug. “It seems like only yesterday that I held the two of you when you were each born and now you’re both grown up.”

 

She turned to her son. “Tai, one minute I was changing your diapers and now you’re the most dashing young man I have ever seen.”

 

Tai’s face paled. “Ok, Mom. Don’t go there,” he pleaded. “Please don’t!”

 

“No matter how grown up you get, you’ll always be my baby boy.”

 

“MOM!”

 

A knock at the door saved the Kamiya siblings from any more embarrassment. Kari seemed to have an idea of who it could be because she fussed over her hair some more, pushing it back several times so that it looked straight and in-place.

 

Tai was the one who answered the door while his mother helped Kari out. TK stood at the threshold, looking quite handsome in his attire for the evening, which consisted of a black jacket, black shirt with a gold tie that matched his hair, and tan pants.

 

“Hi, Tai,” he greeted warmly, a bouquet of gardenias in his hands. “Is Kari ready?”

 

“Hey, TK,” Tai returned the greeting with a smile of his own. “She’ll be out in just a few minutes. Wanna come in and have a seat?”

 

The young blonde nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

 

Tai stepped to the side of the door so that he could come inside. TK slipped his shoes off in the customary way when entering someone’s home before moving to the couch to wait.

 

Tai opened the fridge to dig around for a soda.

 

“Want a drink while you wait?”

 

“That would be nice,” TK nodded in thanks, turning to see Tai toss him a soda and catching it with ease. The older boy then walked over to sit down beside him.

 

“So you and Kari are going together to the dance together, huh?” Tai asked.

 

TK didn’t get any feeling that his tone was threatening or suspicious but he couldn’t be too sure.

 

“Yeah we are,” he nodded. “You don’t have to worry about a thing, Tai. I’m not going to try and put the moves on her at any point.”

 

Tai got a kick out of that, laughing as he took a sip of his own drink.

 

“I know you won’t, TK. Thankfully you’re not Davis and I know I can trust you not to try anything.”

 

TK laughed as well. “Nice to know you trust me.”

 

Tai took another sip of his soda before putting it down and leaning in towards the younger boy.

 

“Who’s Matt going with to the dance tonight?” he asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “He wouldn’t tell me who he was going with. Surely he wouldn’t be going alone now would he? Matt Ishida, mega rock star, going alone to the school dance. It doesn’t seem right.”

 

TK chuckled. “You’ll be happy to know that he isn’t going alone,” he replied. “He and Meiko are going together.”

 

Tai’s eyebrow raised in curiosity. “Him and Meiko huh?” he chuckled. “I would not have seen that coming from a mile away. When did that come about?”

 

“You’ll just have to ask him about it when you get there.”

 

It did not take long until the lady of the hour walked into the living room. Tai thought his little sister looked so beautiful that no one else could even compare to her at that moment. He felt like a proud father, in essence he kind of was like a father to her in addition to being her brother.

 

“Hi, Kari,” TK greeted shyly, obviously in awe of the way she looked. He presented the bouquet of gardenias in his hand to her, his feet shuffling nervously as he did so. “These are for you.”

 

She blushed a deep red as she looked at the flowers.

 

“Oh you shouldn’t have,” she replied thankfully, taking them from him and putting them in a vase. Gardenias were her favorite flowers so she thought it was sweet of him to bring her a bouquet of them when he picked her up.

 

“So, are you ready?” he asked, offering her his arm to latch on to.

 

“You bet,” she nodded, wrapping her arm around his and the two of them walked out of the apartment. Tai and his mother watched as they left with proud expressions on their faces.

 

“She really is growing up,” he said.

 

“Yes she is,” Mrs. Kamiya sniffled, wiping the building tears from her eyes as her youngest child closed the door.

 

“Well I guess I better be going,” Tai said. “Don’t wanna be late to pick Sora up.”

 

“Ok,” his mother nodded. She handed him the corsage in a plastic container and gave him one last hug. “Have fun and don’t be home too late.”

 

He smiled. “I won’t.”

* * *

 

_Dingggg! Dong!_

Tai waited nervously outside of the Takenouchi’s apartment for someone to answer the door. He hoped that he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of Sora again after his nearly botched invite a few days ago. Not only did he have to deal with her but he also wanted to look good in front of her mom.

 

Mrs. Takenouchi was a sweet woman for as long as he had known her, though she could be a little intimidating at first.

 

 _‘Probably explains why Sora’s that way too,’_ he chuckled to himself.

 

He remembered that she and Sora butted heads a lot when she was younger but ever since their first adventure in the Digital World, the two of them were as close as could be.

 

After a few more seconds, the door opened and there stood Mrs. Takenouchi greeting him with a warm expression.

 

“Tai,” she greeted. “How lovely to see you.”

 

“Hi, Mrs. T,” he bowed in greeting, returning her smile with one of his own. “Is Sora ready yet?”

 

“Not yet but she will be in a few moments,” she explained. “Why don’t you come inside and wait for her? Would you like some tea?”

 

“Tea would be nice,” he nodded as he stepped inside to remove his shoes before walking into their home. He had been in the Takenouchi’s apartment many times since he was little that it became almost like a second home to him.

 

Without asking where to go, he made his way towards Sora’s bedroom. He knew the way enough to know where it was. From behind the door, he could hear the sound of Shania Twain being played in the room from a boom box.

 

“ **Ooooh you think you’re special. Oooh you think you’re something else. Ok, so you’re a rocket scientist: that don’t impress me much. So ya got the brains but have ya got the touch? Now don’t get me wrong, I think you’re alright, but that won’t keep me warm in the middle of the night.** ”

 

He heard Sora’s voice mix in with the song. Though she didn’t show it all that often, she had a really great singing voice that captivated him whenever she sang. He had always loved it when she would sing.

 

Though he knew he shouldn’t, Tai carefully opened the door so that she didn’t hear him come in, though with how loud the music was she probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway. He slowly looked around the room to see if she was there, but she wasn’t. He then guessed that she was in the bathroom, which had the door closed next to the door to her bedroom.

 

Stepping into the room, he looked around, noticing all of the posters that she had in her room. There were two Green Day posters, one of Matchbox Twenty, and one of the Backstreet Boys, which nearly made him puke, and others of movies and celebrities.

 

A framed picture on her bedside table caught his attention. He picked it up to examine it and the picture caused him to smile in nostalgia. It was one of them in their soccer uniforms when they were young. Sometimes he wished things could be as simple now as they were then because the biggest thing he ever had to worry about then was trying to one-up Sora next time they were on the field. He was good but she always had a way of being one step ahead of him in those days.

 

He chuckled as the memories flowed through his mind before putting the picture back down on the bedside table.

 

“We were so young then, weren’t we?”

 

Tai nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned towards the sound of the voice. What he saw almost caused his jaw to drop to his feet: Sora stood just a few feet in front of him, dressed in a primarily sand-colored kimono that became red around the edges and a red sash tied around her waist. Her hair seemed to sparkle like fire in the light and her face was dotted with makeup. Overall, she looked stunning.

 

 _‘When she puts her mind to it, she actually can be a real girl sometimes,’_ Tai thought to himself as he took in every single detail of her since words seemed to fail him at that moment.

 

She giggled at his inability to respond. “I look good huh?”

 

“Yeah,” he nodded with his face starting to blush bright red. “You look amazing, Sora. I never knew you had it in you.”

 

She frowned. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

 

“I mean just…” he paused, searching for the right words to use without upsetting her. “It’s just that it’s weird seeing you actually look like a girl for a change.”

 

Just as she was about to tell him to sit, Sora thought better of it and simply shrugged it off with another giggle.

 

“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “Compared to when we were younger, I guess I would say so.”

 

“Definitely,” said Tai. He then smirked. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I can still kick your butt in soccer, Martina Navratilova.”

 

That did it for her.

 

“Sit, boy,” she commanded.

 

The sound of his face hitting the hardwood floor echoed throughout the room, as well as his groan of pain. Smacking the floor with his hand in frustration, he glared up at her.

 

“How do you keep doing that?!” he demanded. “Ever since we were kids, you’ve done this to me! What did you do?”

 

“That’s for me to know and you not to know,” she smirked right back at him.

 

“Um…am I interrupting something?”

 

The two turned to see Mrs. Takenouchi standing towards the front of the room with a tray of three cups of tea in her hands. She had a bewildered expression on her face, wondering what her daughter and her best friend were up to.

 

The young couple blushed in embarrassment.

 

“Nothing, Mom,” Sora answered before Tai could. “What’s up?”

 

“I just wanted to let you know that your tea was ready,” her mother took a cup of tea before leaving the tray on a dresser and walking out of the room.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Sora sings is Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much" so I do not take credit for that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they are on their way to the dance, what awaits Tai and Sora next? Find out.

Now when many teenagers picture how they want their high school prom night to go, they imagine everything going smooth like ice that they won’t have to worry about anything other than looking good in front of their date. Trying to imagine anything possibly going wrong is the last thing any teenager wants to worry about.

 

For Tai Kamiya, things did go wrong…and in a big way.

 

When he and Sora went to dinner at the best restaurant in the Odaiba district, he was expecting a nice, quiet dinner with some pleasant conversation to set the tone for a perfect evening. It started off well enough: they got seated quickly and the service was fast enough to their liking. Izzy and Mimi were there too and sat down with them. Mimi looked fantastic in a full pink kimono, which Tai and Sora saw coming from a mile away, and Izzy was quite handsome in a tuxedo that was similar to Tai’s.

 

As they enjoyed their dinner, some jerk started making wolf whistles and catcalls at Mimi and Sora from across the restaurant. Tai and Izzy had been annoyed with it but carried on as if nothing had happened. They didn’t want to cause a problem and felt like the guy would just leave them be after a while.

 

Sadly, that didn’t happen as the guy soon made his way over to the table and once again starting flirting with the girls, particularly Sora. Tai finally decided to do something and confronted the man, which resulted in an altercation that became physical within seconds.

 

Even though he did his best, Tai was still beaten to a pulp before the man was escorted out of the restaurant. With a bloodied nose, bruised cheek and a black eye, Tai looked like he went ten rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime.

 

* * *

 

“You can be such an idiot sometimes,” Sora groaned as she pressed her handkerchief against Tai’s eye.

 

“Ow! Don’t touch it,” Tai groaned as he laid on her lap in the limo. “Don’t touch it!”

 

“Don’t be a baby,” she admonished before instructing him to hold it against his eye. “What were you thinking getting into that? I know the guy was in a questionable state of mind but you didn’t have to go looking for a fight.”

 

“I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, Sora,” Tai retorted, wincing as she touched his black eye. “A man never lets another man make unwanted advances on a woman, even if he ends up being the one getting hurt.”

 

Sora gave a small smile, knowing that she couldn’t disagree with that statement. Tai had always been the first one to stand up for her, or anyone for that matter, whenever the situation called for it since they were little kids and she deeply admired him for it. It was no wonder he was the Digidestined of Courage in the first place.

 

“I just worry about you sometimes,” Sora sighed as she continued to dab her handkerchief on his eye. “Your recklessness has gotten us into trouble one too many times. Need I remind you of the SkullGreymon episode?”

 

“Please don’t remind me of that,” Tai nearly shouted before talking at a lower level. “Sorry. It’s something I would rather forget.”

 

“Still a touchy subject, I see,” she muttered.

 

Tai wanted to retort but remembering what she said about worrying about him caused him to hold his tongue. It was in Sora’s nature to worry about everybody else but knowing she worried about him most of all made him feel special. Maybe things would go as planned that night after all.

 

“I know you worry about me,” he said. “But you don’t have to. I’m more worried about you than I am for myself sometimes.”

 

Sora’s face turned pink slightly at his words before a smile curved up her lips.

 

“Idiot,” she chuckled, giving him a light smack on the head.

 

Not much later, they finally arrived at the school. The driver got out to open the door for them. Tai got out first so that he could help escort Sora out of the limo. All around them, their fellow students walked by towards the entrance to the gym. Girls were dressed in kimonos of all colors: some lighter and others darker, while gentlemen wore variations of a tuxedo.

 

“Just ignore your eye,” Sora whispered as she hooked her left arm around his right one. “It’ll be fine.”

 

“Whatever you say,” Tai replied with a roll of his one good eye as the two began to walk inside the school.

 

“Whoa, Tai. What happened to your eye?”

 

The Digidestined leader frowned as he turned to face the source of the question, which turned out to be Matt. Matt looked even more handsome than usual in a dark garnet-colored jacket that stood out from all the other males’ typical black jackets and black pants. His blonde hair was slicked back and well-combed, making him look like a GQ model.

 

“Had a little accident when I was throwing my soccer ball up in the air,” he replied stubbornly. “It’s no big deal.”

 

“I don’t know how you can get a black eye from just throwing the ball up in the air,” replied Meiko, who clung to Matt’s arm. She was dressed in a full black kimono that was outlined with bright red, making it stand out from the others.

 

Sora snickered beside Tai, who gave her a dirty look. “That’s because it didn’t happen that way,” she said. “He got it when we went to dinner. Some guy started hitting on Mimi and I and Tai ‘heroically’ tried to get him to back off but ended up getting beat up for it.”

 

Matt and Meiko couldn’t help themselves and started to laugh hysterically. The two couples were in line to get their prom photo taken along with many others before they could go into the gym for the actual dance itself.

 

 _‘She just wants to embarrass me every time something happens,’_ Tai groaned to himself as Matt and Meiko continued to laugh.

 

“Did anyone ever tell you to know when to pick your battles, Tai?” Matt asked through his laughter.

 

“That was a battle worth fighting for,” Tai puffed his cheeks in frustration. “A man never lets another man make unwanted advances on a woman.”

 

“And yet you are the one who ended up with a black eye.”

 

“Want me to give you one so we can match, pretty boy?”

 

“Ok, Tai. That’s enough,” Sora pulled him away from the blonde and blocked his path so he wouldn’t try to get to him. “I know you’re still mad about that but let’s try and enjoy ourselves tonight.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” he replied, sounding more unsure than he would have liked. Everything that he had done to make sure things had gone smoothly had failed him but he felt he could still salvage something.

 

“Next,” said the photographer.

 

Sora moved closer to Tai until she was right on him, wrapping her arms around his sides, before turning to face the camera. The action was so unexpected that Tai’s face flushed red and he couldn’t recover quickly enough to smile as the shot was taken.

 

“I wasn’t ready,” he protested as Sora dragged him towards the entrance of the gym.

 

“Too late now,” she replied carelessly.

 

Tai tried to pry himself free but Sora had an iron grip on his hand, which led to a back and forth tug-of-war between the two of them until they finally entered the gym. Their jaws dropped to the floor at how extravagant it looked for the occasion. Streamers were “streamed” everywhere, dark and bright lights clashed against each other, and dance music blasted from speakers stationed at all corners of the gym.

 

Making their way through the crowd of people, they noticed Mimi and Izzy already occupying a table and moved towards them. The two of them seemed to be in deep conversation before they noticed Tai and Sora sitting down at the table.

 

“Hey guys,” Mimi was the first to greet them. “How’s your eye, Tai?”

 

Tai grunted at the mention of his eye. “It’s seen better days,” he grumbled. With a roll of his eyes, he drawled, “Thanks for asking.”

 

“My pleasure,” she giggled.

 

Tai then felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked over his right to see Mr. Nishijima’s smirking face. With how devious the smirk seemed, Tai wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or scared by his presence.

 

“What’s shaking, kids?” he greeted. “Having fun?”

 

“We just got here, sir,” Sora responded in kind, giving him a friendly smile. “But it seems like it’s pretty good so far.”

 

“Excellent,” Nishijima then turned to Tai. “Hey, Tai. That’s a nasty shiner you’ve got there.”

 

Tai frowned as Mimi and Sora giggled before answering. “I had a bit of an accident earlier. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

 

“Ok,” his teacher chuckled. “Can we talk man-to-man for a brief moment?”

 

“Uh, sure, sir,” Tai nodded, getting up from his chair to join him.

 

The two walked out of the gym and towards a quiet, isolated corner of the school. Tai was not sure what his teacher wanted to talk to him about but why they had to walk to a quiet part of school unnerved him.

 

“Uh…Mr. Nishijima?”

 

“I’m going by Squall now, Tai, so you will address me as such,” Nishijima replied. Silence fell over them for several seconds. Tai looked at his teacher with a confused look, unsure of what to make of this.

 

Nishijima then burst out laughing. His laugh carried through the halls as he doubled over in hysterics. It was so contagious that Tai couldn’t help but laugh as well, though he did not understand why he was.

 

“I…I’ve been practicing that all week,” Nishijima gasped between laughs before he finally managed to get himself together. “I’m just yanking your chain, Tai. But I did want to talk to you about something.”

 

“About what, sir?”

 

His teacher looked up and down the hall to make sure that they were alone while the music from the gym echoed through the entire building. Once satisfied that no one else was around, Nishijima proceeded.

 

“About women,” he said.

 

Tai’s face erupted in a blush. “Women, sir?”

 

“Yes, Tai,” his teacher nodded. “Women. Women are not just beautiful, cunning, and interesting creatures; they are the loyal companions of man. Every good man needs a good woman by his side to keep him in check. There comes a time in every young man’s life when he must take the first step towards fulfilling that manifest destiny.”

 

Tai took this all in to try and process it. The image of Sora came up in his head and everything that the two of them had gone through seemed to flash before his eyes. Every major milestone in his life, she was right there with him and vice versa. He could not imagine what his life would be like without her; watching her and Matt go out for the better part of a year gnawed at his heart even though he did his best to support them. He didn’t want to be selfish but it seemed like that was no longer an option.

 

“What are you getting at?” he asked.

 

“I’m saying that you are wanting to tell Miss Sora how you feel, am I right?” Nishijima replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “I watch the two of you all the time. I know that the two of you have been best friends since you were kids and have been waiting for the other to make the first move. I think you should make that first step.”

 

As Tai stood in deep thought, Himekawa came strolling up to the two of them. Tai had to admit that she looked stunning in a black kimono with white outlining. One white part blended into a black part in a yin and yang style that easily brought out her beauty. He snickered when he saw that Nishijima could hardly speak with his mouth slacked open and eyes wide.

 

“I thought I’d find the two of you hiding back here,” she chuckled, sneaking an arm around Nishijima’s back. He gave her a teasing look in return. “What were you talking about?”

 

He chuckled. “Just man stuff, Hime. Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about.”

 

Himekawa snorted a chuckle before giving him a light smack on the cheek. “Darling, behave tonight,” she admonished teasingly before turning to Tai. “Especially around the kids. You know how impressionable they are.”

 

Tai bowed in greeting to Himekawa, who gave him a warm smile.

 

“Hi Ms. Himekawa,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to see you.”

 

“Same to you, Kamiya,” she returned. “You best get back out there before anyone notices. _She_ is waiting for you.”

 

The sly smile on her face caused Tai to flush with embarrassment.

 

 _‘How can I be so dense-headed while everyone else is able to pick up on it with no problem?’_ he thought to himself, watching as the two older former Digidestined walked away together. Nishijima whispered something in Himekawa’s ear that caused her to giggle like a schoolgirl.

 

Tai groaned.

 

“I don’t understand women but they somehow understand us. Maybe it’s me they don’t understand.”

 

* * *

 

_‘Just stay cool. One foot in front of the other. Oh no, I just stepped on Sora’s toes. Hope she doesn’t notice…and she did.’_

 

Tai was guiding himself step-by-step as he and Sora slow danced together. While trying to keep his cool, his stomach was doing flips as it sunk in that he and Sora were dancing together…and so intimately!

 

Looking around, he noticed Mimi being all over Izzy but the computer genius looked like he didn’t mind at all. Matt and Meiko danced elegantly together, the blonde’s movements graceful and sincere while she was able to keep up just as well.

 

“Tai, my eyes are right here,” Sora chastised before using her hand to tilt his head back to center so he could look at her. His face erupted into a blush but thanks to how dark it was, she couldn’t make it out well enough.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“N-nothing,” he stuttered, accidentally stepping on her toes once again. “Sorry.”

 

A look of discomfort flashed across Sora’s face as the pain from his foot stepping on hers surged through her leg. She was tempted to sit him for the amount of times that he had stepped on her toes up until that point but she could tell he was nervous about something.

 

“You know I know you better than that, Tai,” she frowned. “What’s the matter?”

 

Before Tai could answer, the slow song stopped and all the other couples broke away. A war raged inside his head for him to decide what he should do at that moment.

 

“C-can we talk?” he asked, looking deep into her crimson eyes. “Just the two of us.”

 

“Sure, what do you have to say?”

 

“I mean alone.”

 

Sora’s face turned a slight pink at the mention of him wanting to talk to her alone. Was he going to do what she thought he was going to do? There was only one way for her to find out.

 

“Ok,” she nodded. “Let’s go.”

 

Tai led her out of the gym just as tango music began to blast through the speakers. He caught a glimpse of Nishijima and Himekawa in the middle of the dance floor; she had stripped off her kimono for a glittery silver dress that flashed in the disco ball lights and the two of them were dancing an elaborate tango. Couples around them stepped back to form a circle, many of them with uncomfortable looks on their faces as Nishijima and Himekawa danced.

 

Walking down the hallway to almost the exact same spot where Daigo had taken him to talk, Tai felt his palms start to sweat with nervous anticipation. His heart raced as if he had finished a ten-mile run and his entire body quivered as he gathered his thoughts together for what he was about to do. This was arguably the scariest moment of his life.

 

Sora felt Tai’s hands get a little clammy.

 

“Tai, your hands are sweating,” she blurted out. “Are you sure that everything is ok?”

 

“Never better, Sora,” he forced a smile while chuckling nervously. “Just peachy.”

 

Sora was not going to take that for an answer so she pushed him against the wall. If he wasn’t going to be straight with her about what was happening, then she wasn’t going any further with him.

 

“Whoa, Sora. What the…” Tai reacted in surprise.

 

“What is with you tonight?” she demanded, irritation clearly in her eyes as they locked with his own brown eyes. “You’ve been skittish ever since we got here. What are you hiding from me, Tai Kamiya?”

 

“Could you please back up?” he asked as she pressed her forehead against his. “I have personal space issues.”

 

After she moved back to a more manageable distance, he cleared his throat so that he could speak.

 

“I know I’ve been a little weird tonight but there’s a reason for that, Sora,” he began. “We’ve been friends for a long time, haven’t we?”

 

“Oh yeah,” she nodded, smiling as all sorts of memories flooded her mind. “Since we were basically in diapers. You were four and I was days from my fourth birthday when we met.”

 

“And in that time, we have done plenty of crazy things together,” he continued, causing her to scoff.

 

“Speak for yourself. I have always been the sensible one, Tai, and the one who has gotten you out of more trouble than I would have liked to admit.”

 

A blush streaked across his face, knowing that she was right

 

“Can I please just finish?” he requested. Her silence told him that it was ok to keep going.

 

“No one completes me more than you do, Sora. We’ve been through a whole heap together that I cannot imagine what my life would be like without you. Excuse me for saying this but I felt like I had lost my best friend when you went chasing after Matt. It was hard watching you be happy with him for that time you were together because I felt like the body of work we had together just was not enough for you to look my way. You complete me, Sora, and you always will. I love you.”

 

His face felt like a fried egg as he finished his outpouring of affection for her. He didn’t even need a mirror to know that it was red as a tomato and burning like a stove at that moment.

 

Sora’s eyes went wide in realization to what he said, a strip of pink spread across her face to accompany her shock.

 

“Do you have to be so corny?” she groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead.

 

“What?” Tai demanded, offended by her question.

 

“Do you honestly think old pick-up lines like that are going to impress me? You impress me enough just by being yourself, Tai. Being the same old lovable doofus that I have known since I was a little girl. The doofus that I have loved since I was a little girl.”

 

Sora had said those things without thinking. It took a few seconds to register but once they did, her blush got even deeper. She had just confessed her feelings for him.

 

“Er…I mean I have always loved you as my best friend and all,” she tried to save face but was failing miserably. “But I…”

 

Tai could not help himself as he started to laugh at her embarrassment. Doubling over to bang his fist against the floor, he felt like his gut was going to burst from all the laughing he was doing.

 

Sora huffed indignantly at this act. “What’s so funny?” she demanded with her hands on her hips.

 

“I’m sorry,” Tai gasped as he continued laughing. “But what’s funny is you. You have not changed at all.”

 

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

 

Finally getting himself together, Tai got back on his feet to look Sora in the eye. His whole demeanor did a one-eighty and now he was serious, more than she had ever seen from him before. There wasn’t a hint of playfulness in his eyes as she gazed into them.

 

“It means you still have all the things I love about you, Sora,” he said in a lower tone. “You are always there for me, you’re someone I always want around, and you’ve been so good to me all these years. There’s no one else I would want to spend time with more than you.”

 

Tai couldn’t take it anymore and finally pulled her into his chest with his right hand on top of her head and his left around her upper back. Just feeling her be this close to him sent tingles down his spine and made him feel warm and safe. It felt so right.

 

Sora buried her face into his chest as a wave of relief and happiness overcame her. Her hands clutched at his trapezoids before wrapping around his back, her heart fluttering in joy.

 

“So what are we now?” Tai shattered the silence between them.

 

Sora couldn’t help but chuckle. “What do you think, stupid?”

 

“I know but I just want to make sure that this is really happening,” he smiled the biggest smile that Sora had ever seen from him. “Is this a dream?”

 

A smirk flashed across Sora’s face as she thought of something.

 

“You tell me if this is feels like a dream,” she said before commanding, “Sit!”

 

CRASH! Tai fell face-first to the floor with a resounding boom that reverberated off the walls.

 

“Why?” he groaned in anguish.

 

While he wallowed in pain, Sora took the chance to sit down beside him on the floor with her back against the wall. With a soft smile working its way on her face, she caressed his wild brown hair, running her hand through it and patting it like she was a comforting mother.

 

Tai turned onto his back to look at her as she moved her hand to rest on his cheek, causing his enraged gaze to soften. They stayed in this position for several moments as one waited for the other to make the first move. The echoes of music from the gym, this time a softer number, made the moment seem that much more romantic than it already was.

 

Sora brushed one side of her auburn hair behind her ear nervously before doing the same with the other. She felt bad at telling him to sit this time so she decided to come clean with him.

 

“Remember that necklace I gave you when we were eight?” she asked.

 

Tai nodded. “Yeah. I never take it off.”

 

“Well that is how I get you to sit every time,” she continued. “The necklace allows the one who bestowed it upon another to control them. In my case, it’s to keep you in line when the situation calls for it.”

 

He frowned. “So basically it’s a necklace of subjugation?” he asked. “You can be so sadistic sometimes, Sora!”

 

“Only for you, Tai,” she returned with a smirk and a giggle. “The reason I never gave one to Matt was because it wasn’t right for me to give another one to someone else. You were the one I chose to give it to and it wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t you.”

 

As she spoke, Tai found the strength to at least sit himself upright beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder before pulling her into his side so that her head rested on his left shoulder.

 

“Thank you, Sora,” he murmured.

 

And they just sat there, happy to be in the presence of the other and knowing what the future held was something amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed that. With the "Squall" moment there, it was intended to make light of the fact that Doug Erholtz voices both Nishijima and Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy.


End file.
